Samantha Among the Brethren, Complete by Marietta Holley (booksvooks .TXT) π
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- Author: Marietta Holley
Read book online Β«Samantha Among the Brethren, Complete by Marietta Holley (booksvooks .TXT) πΒ». Author - Marietta Holley
He took S. Annie and the brackets, the piano and hangin' lamps and baskets and crystal bead lambrequins, her father had gin her, moved 'em all into a good, sensible, small house, and went to work to get a practice and a livin'. He was a lawyer by perswasion.
Wall, he worked hard, day and night, for three little children come to 'em pretty fast, and S. Annie consumed a good deal in trimmin's and cheap lace to ornament 'em; she wuz her father's own girl for ornament. But he worked so hard, and had so many irons in the fire, and kep' 'em all so hot, that he got a good livin' for 'em, and begun to lay up money towards buyin' 'em a houseβa home.
He talked a sight, so folks said that knew him well, about his consumin' desire and aim to get his wife and children into a little home of their own, into a safe little haven, where they could live if he wuz called away. They say that that wuz on his mind day and night, and wuz what nerved his hand so in the fray, and made him so successful. Wall, he had laid up about nine hundred dollars towards a home, every dollar on it earned by hard work and consecrated by this deathless hope and affection. The house he had got his mind on only cost about a thousand dollars. Loontown property is cheap.
Wall, he had laid up nine hundred, and wuz a-beginnin' to save on the last hundred, for he wouldn't run in debt a cent any way, when he wuz took voyalent sick there to Cephas'ses; he and S. Annie had come home for a visit of a day or two, and he bein' so run down, and weak with his hard day work and his night work, that he suckumbed to his sickness, and passed away the day before I got there.
Wall, S. Annie wuz jest overcome with grief the day I got there, but the day follerin' she begun to take some interest and help her father in makin' preparations for the funeral.
The body wuz embalmed, accordin' to Cephas'ses and S. Annie's wish, and the funeral wuz to be on the Sunday follerin', and on that Cephas and S. Annie now bent their energies.
To begin with, S. Annie had a hull suit of clear crape made for herself, with a veil that touched the ground; she also had three other suits commenced, for more common wear, trimmed heavy with crape, one of which she ordered for sure the next week, for she said, βshe couldn't stir out of the house in any other color but black.β
I knew jest how dear crape wuz, and I tackled her on the subject, and sez Iβ
βDo you know, S. Annie, these dresses of your'n will cost a sight?β
βCost?β sez she, a-bustin' out a-cryin'. βWhat do I care about cost? I will do everything I can to respect his memory. I do it in remembrance of him.β
Sez I, gently, βS. Annie, you wouldn't forget him if you wuz dressed in white. And as for respect, such a life as his, from all I hear of it, don't need crape to throw respect on it; it commands respect, and gets it from everybody.β
βBut,β sez Cephas, βit would look dretful odd to the neighbors if she didn't dress in black.β Sez he in a skairful tone, and in his intense wayβ
βI would ruther resk my life than to have her fail in duty in this way; it would make talk. And.β sez he, βwhat is life worth when folks talk?β I turned around the crazed block and tackled it in a new place (more luny than ever it seemed to me), and sez I, mekanicklyβ
βIt is pretty hard work to keep folks from talkin'; to keep 'em from sayin' somethin'.β
But I see from their looks it wouldn't do to say anything more, so I had to set still and see it go on.
At that time of year flowers wuz dretful high, but S. Annie and Cephas had made up their minds that they must have several flower-pieces from the city nighest to Loontown.
One wuz a-goin' to be a gate ajar, and one wuz to be a gate wide open, and one wuz to be a big book. Cephas asked what book I thought would be preferable to represent. And I mentioned the Bible.
But Cephas sez, βNo, he didn't think he would have a Bible; he didn't think it would be appropriate, seein' the deceased wuz a lawyer.β He said βhe hadn't quite made up his mind what book to have. But anyway it wuz to be in flowersβbeautiful flowers.β Another piece wuz to be his name in white flowers on a purple background of pansies. His name wuz Wellington Napoleon Bonaparte Hardiman. And I sez to CephasββTo save expense, you will probable have the moneygram W.N.B.H.?β
βOh, no,β sez he.
Sez I, βhen the initials of his given names, and the last name in full.β
βOh, no,β he said; βit wuz S. Annie's wish, and hisen, that the hull name should be put on. They thought it would show more respect.β
I sez, βWhere Wellington is now, that hain't a goin' to make any difference, and,β sez I, βCephas, flowers are dretful high this time of year, and it is a long name.β
But Cephas said agin that he didn't care for expense, so long as respect wuz done to the memory of the deceased. He said that he and S. Annie both felt that it wuz their wish to have the funeral go ahead of any other that had ever took place in Loontown or Jonesville. He said that S. Annie felt that it wuz all that wuz left her now in life, the memory of such a funeral as he deserved.
Sez I, βThere is his children left for her to live for,β sez Iββthree little bits of his own life, for her to nourish, and cherish, and look out for.β
βYes,β sez Cephas, βand she will do that nobly, and I will help her. They are all goin' to the funeral, too, in deep-black dresses.β He said βthey wuz too little to realize it now, but in later and maturer years it would be a comfort to 'em to know they had took part in such a funeral as that wuz goin' to be, and wuz dressed in black.β
βWall,β sez I (in a quiet, onassumin' way I would gin little hints of my mind on the subject), βI am afraid that will be about all the comforts of life the poor little children will ever have,β sez I. βIt will be if you buy many more flower-pieces and crape dresses.β
Cephas said βit wouldn't take much crape for the children's dresses, they wuz so little, only the baby's; that would have to be long.β
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